KILNWICK PERCY PARISH.
Wapentake of Harthill (Wilton Beacon Division)—County Council Electoral Division of Huggate —Petty Sessional Division of Wilton Beacon—Poor Law Union and County Court District of Pocklingtou—Rural Deanery of Pooklington—Archdeaconry of the East Biding—Diocese of York.
This parish, called also Kildwick, contains 1,579 acres of land, lying on the Wolds. The surface is undulated, and numerous fine woodlands add picturesqueness to the landscape. The soil is a rich loam and clay, and the subsoil chalk and clay. The usual cereal crops are grown, and also beans, turnips, and seeds. The rateable value is £1,771, and the number of inhabitants in 1891 was 73, a decrease of 45 since 1881. Colonel Charles Wilmer Duncombe is lord of the manor and owner of the entire parish, 21 acres of glebe excepted.
The estate was purchased from R. Denison, Esq., in 1841, by the father of the present owner, who added to it very considerably by buying adjoining and surrounding property. The Hall, which was also enlarged and improved by the late Admiral Duncombe, is a handsome mansion of stone, fronted by a spacious lawn and lake, and surrounded by extensive pleasure grounds. The late owner, who died on the 6th of February, 1889, was the fourth son of the first Baron Feversham, of Duncombe Park, Yorkshire. He entered the navy at the age of 13, and quitted it, after 15 years' service, with the rank of post-captain. In 1862, he was appointed an admiral on the retired list, and from 1841 to 1846, was Groom-in-Waiting to the Queen. He represented the borough of Eetford for some years in the Conservative interest, and in 1851, was elected member for the East Biding of Yorkshire, for which he sat till 1868. He was High Sheriff of the county in 1874, and on the formation of the County Council, he was appointed by that body a County Alderman. He was twice married. His first wife was Delia, youngest daughter of the late John Wilmer Field, Esq., of Heaton Hall, County York, and his second, who survives him, was Jane Mary, eldest daughter of Sir James Walker, Bart., of Sand Hutton, York. He had issue by the first wife, five sons and three daughters.
There is no village, properly so called. The church (St. Helen), which stands within the park, is a small building of stone, in the Norman style, consisting of chancel, nave with a modern north aisle, and western belfry. The interior is elegant, the pews and stalls are of oak, richly carved, and the windows are filled with handsome stained glass. There are a few monumental slabs and an ancient brass to Thomas Wood, who died in 1570. It bears only an inscription setting forth in 12 English verses that he had been clerk comptroller of Boulogne, and deputy receiver of Yorkshire.
The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the Liber Regis at £4 16s. 3d., present gross value £154, with residence, formerly in the gift of the Dean of York, now in that of the Archbishop, and held by the Rev. Mark Anthony Lawton, B.A., of Jesus College, Cambridge.
The great tithes are commuted for a rent-charge of £160, appropriated to the deanery of York, and the vicarial tithes for a rent-charge of £120.
Wood's Dole, amounting to £10 per annum, is paid out of land in this parish. The Dole is distributed in small sums among the poor of this and the surrounding parishes.
Letters via Pocklington. Nearest Post, Money Order, and Telegraph Office at Pocklington (1½ miles)
Lawton Rev. Mark Anthony, B.A., The Vicarage
Farmers.
Elgey John Thornhill, Wold Farm
Martin Thomas, Warrendale
Martin William, Home Farm
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